>> and "the a.j. suicide rescue. culmination of a lot of things there. we will miss you, james gandolfini. that's it for "the lead." i turn you over to jim acosta who is filling in for wolf blitzer in "the situation room." jim? >> thanks, jake. happening now, wall street's worst day of the year, fears of what the fed will do or more precisely won't do send the dow down more than 350 points. >> it's called a border surge, doubling the number of agents and doubling the 700 mile fence. and game on. as the heat and spurs get ready to decide the nba championship tonight, lebron james talks to cnn's rachel nichols. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm jim acosta and you're in "the situation room."

>> we're starting with the big blow to wall street and most certainly your retirement accounts. the dow plummethed almost 350 points today and over 500 in two days. tom, what's happened here? >> ben bernanke came out and said we're going to back off of this government program that has helped push the economy along and that has sent the markets in a tail spin. he used the word "taper", he's going to taper the program. what does that mean? well, imagine the economy to be like a kid trying to ride a bicycle after a spill, trying to get back on balance. the fed has been helping out to steady and push him along with about $85 billion a month in stimulus. ben bernanke has been looking at numbers saying housing is up

almost 7% in may, unemployment 7.6%, not getting better but not getting worse, gdp, 2.6%, all of that he's saying is that all of this that is good enough that the government can start backing off and let the economy stand on its own a little more. i'll be there. if it gets in trouble, i'll step in and save it, it will be okay, there is what we should do. so why are the markets so troubled? partially because they're looking at the same numbers and they are not as confident. their sense is that if you step away from this economy right now and try to let it ride on its own, in fact you could have a lot of wobbles here in employment, and in housing and in a lot of things that they've invested their money in and they could lose money, on top of which, jim, that $85 billion a month has been easy money for them to play with and make more money from. a lot of them would not like to

see that taper at all. jim? >> tom, thank you very much for that. let's go "outfront" with erin burnett. erin, as top just explained, this economy has sort of been hooked on cheap money for some time now. sort of reminds me of how we were hooked on that housing market that was just taking off and off and off until we had to pay the price. is it haircut time? >> absolutely. i really like the example tom was giving of the kid learning to ride a bike. i'd maybe be a little nastier about it. you could say it's like someone who has become addicted to heroin. heroin makes you feel really good but it actually hurts you over time and eventually you have to break the addiction. that's sort of where we are right now. yes, this is all coming from the fed saying the economy my be getting stronger than people thought. that means we don't need to give you this free money anymore. so in a sense this plunge that we're seeing is the result of good news but i will say this,

this analogy about a drug adi addict, jim, these rounds, when they say they might pull it back, the market fell about 16%. they got nervous. the fed said okay, okay, we'll give you 16%. the market falls 18%. so this has become a pattern we've gotten used to. when you see a 4% drop over a couple days, yes, it's big, the worst since the end of last year. it could be something that goes that goes for a little while as the market tries to tell ben bernanke please, please give us more. we'll see if he's strong enough to hold out this time. >> it sounds like the glass is half full. from a fiscal standpoint, what should people do with their money? i assume you're going to say don't panic, it's only a couple of days, things will get better. >> you're right about that. it could keep going down for

quite some time. it's unclear. you don't go wholesale and change everybody you're doing because of a couple of days. you have a lot of sophisticated people who are ahead you and are going to make money off of you. your 401(k) or ira have maybe been putting a lot of money into bonds. there's been this seemingly never ending bull markets where where bonds have gained in value. that bull market will come to an end. you're already seeing it with mortgage rates. they're moving up. you want to refinance your house. you might want to look at your bond holdings and see if you want to get out of bonds. again, you have to make a bet on when this is going to happen. he's not going to stop the free money until later this year, if the market stays strong. i would say definitely be calm but be prepared for interest rates to go up and prepare for that. >> you will have much more on

our money and the markets tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. be sure to join erin burnett "outfront" tonight. >> thanks, jim. >> a former federal prosecutor became deputy attorney general as he stepped up counterterrorism effort. his appointment comes as the obama administration deals with spreading fallout over its national security policies, including government surveillance operations, if confirmed by the senate, which is about a sure thing at this point. comey will replace mueller after a dozen years. >> and there may be fresh hope for sergeant beau bergdahl who was captured in 2009. he's thought to be held along the border of pakistan. the state department says look

for the issue of a potential prisoner swap to be raised in the coming days. the taliban are expected to offer bergdahl in exchange for five taliban being held. >> and the big fight over immigration may be cooling down. 700 miles of border fence and thousands of new border agents, a breakdown that is key to immigration reform. i'll speak to senator john mccain about that. and one player may be the key in the nba championship tonight. lebron james speaks to cnn. that is coming up. [ female announcer ] doctors trust calcium plus vitamin d

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of miles of security fence. it may be the best way to passing immigration reform. dana bash, calling it a surge, probably a pretty good tactic. >> that's right. because the name of the game in the senate is to get a big enough vote to give it momentum going into the house where immigration reform is a very tough sell. so senators who support this are hoping this change will help. for republicans in particular, it's all about border security. that's why they call an immigration deal to beef it up a breakthrough. >> enhancing border security including doubling the number of border agents to 40,000 and completing the 700 mile southern border fence. they emphasize, border security measures must be completed and ertified before 11 million immigrants can get on a 13-year

path to citizenship. >> 11 million people live here in the shadows and they live in de facto amnesty and they are being exploited every single day. >> president obama wants immigration reform for his legacy. many republicans want it to keep the party viable in the future since his fpanic voters are fleeing the gop. george bush won 44% in 2004. he tried and failed to get immigration reform. much of the gop base opposes any form of immigration reform and will still vote now. >> amnesty is no. it's the one thing we can be sure of and it will be first. >> we asked marco rubio about conservative criticism. for someone from you from a diverse state with higher

ambition politically, this is important. for someone in a red state, voting for immigration reform hurt them rather than helps them. >> i understand. they've seen all these measures in the past failed. people are really upset and i respect it and understand it. >> reporter: few politicians have as much at stake as raubio a cuban american with presidential aspirations. in all candor, how much of your personal credibility and viability is on the line here. nobody talks about this without talking about marco rubio in the same breath politically. >> i have not analyzed it that way. >> reporter: oh, come on. >> no, if i wanted to do something politically, the easiest thing would be not to

speak about it. i'm doing this because this is hurting our country badly. >> reporter: but many of rubio's fellow republicans are not buying that argument. positions seem to be hardening against it, rather than softening for it. and it was likened to obama care today. it can be very tough ultimately to get it to the president's desk, which clearly they have to do. >> i'm pretty sure that's not a compliment. dana bash, thank you so much for that. >> not so much. >> let's bring in gloria borger and candy crowley. it's fine how it all comes back to border security. >> always. >> why is that? >> you and i were talking before the show. i think john mccain discovered that when he was for immigration reform, ran for president in 2000, went out there on the campaign trail and all people were talking about was enforcing the border.

we did our own poll in which we asked americans what should the main focus of u.s. immigration policy be? take a look at this, border security first by an almost 2-to-1 margin there. you see particularly for republicans, you have to say, look, first things first. we're going to secure the border and then we're going to talk about the path to citizenship, even though, by the way, the path to citizenship is 13 years long itself. but you have to get over this hump and convince people. and it's difficult because they don't trust the government. so they think you could put 40,000 boots on the ground, could you build fences but i don't trust that it's going to work. >> that's a problem with border security is that people see something that you're never going to get. i don't care -- who was it that used to say all the time you build a six-foot wall, there will be a seven-foot ladder. it a moving target.

they've done what they could to identify, let's throw everything we've got at it. i think it's terribly interesting that in order to make a big enough show to collect republican votes in the senate, they're going to create a whopping big bill. i would love to know if you ask them in that polling what if we told you you could never get 100% border security and what if we told what you the cbo said, which is, hey, this will really help the deficit. >> let me ask you about vice president biden. he gave this very big speech today and got a lot of people talking because of the passion -- it was biden being biden. it's surprising because the white house has sort-a light foot on immigration so as not to spook the republicans on capitol hill. let's listen to what the vice president is saying. >> we have nothing to apologize for. when we piet fooit for the morally right thing to do

because there's a practically, economically sound thing for america to do. >> gloria and candy, should the white house just stay out of this and let the republicans work this out? >> they can't. and they're to the not staying out of it. the president isn't going full bore press conference out front because he knows the more he gets involved, the less likely it is to actually pass because some republicans will react to him and he doesn't want to become a lightning rod on this. so are the folks on the hill negotiating the democrats without going back to the white house and talking to them privately? no, of course they're talking to the white house privately. but is the president going out front yet? no. >> and this also fits into the way this president has routinely dealt with capitol hill. he did it with health care and but i can assure you once i get an immigration ball bil and have a signing ceremony, i mean, this will be another piece of

signature legislation that he wanted to help transform -- >> but he did put out a sort of points that he wanted in an immigration measure. >> right. right. write a bill or -- it's the same kind of -- >> and putting all this aside, as dana pointed out, this still has to get through the house. >> and that's not going to be easy. >> coming up, senator jackson jackson has personally told the president. >> and the unexpected death of actor james gandolfini and his co-star's reaction. you can get a fabulous hotel without bidding. think of the rubles you'll save. with one touch, fun in the sun. i like fun.

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. tributes and expressions of shock are pouring in for actor james gandolfini. >> james gandolfini died unexpectedly yesterday while vacationing in rome, most likely of a heart attack. he was 51. edie falco who played his wife on "the sopranos" said "i am shocked and devastated by jim's passing. he was a man of tremendous depth and sensitivity with a kindness and generosity beyond words." >> and a blast at a fireworks

explosion killed two people today south of montreal. >> and five were killed when a crowd surged forward when they tried to get a glimpse of david beckham. beckham was so upset, he cancelled members with meetings of members of a chinese soccer league. jim? >> my gosh, look at those pictures. >> coming up, i'll speak with john mccain about a border surge. and there's no such thing as game eight. the heat and spurs will decide the nba championship tonight. lebron james talk about it with cnn's rachel nichols. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪

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happening now, john mccain gives us details of his behind-the-scenes talk with president obama about possible military action in syria. >> a fiery car crash ends the

life of a journalist whose reporting shook up the military's top brass. now people are questioning whether it was an accident. and talk about economy class, a 5,000 mile nightmare flight with one key amenity missing. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm jim acosta and you're in "the situation room." let's get back to one of our top stories. senators are calling it a border surge, a deal that set some tough conditions for immigration reform but could help make it a reality. and joining us now is the republican senator from arizona and member of the gang of eight on immigration reform, john mccain. senator, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> let's get straight to this new breakthrough in immigration reform on capitol hill, the amendment being brought forward

by senators corker and who ha e. some of the parts of this amendment, doubling the number of border agents and doubling the 700 mile fencing. do you think is going to add up to a significant number of republicans signing on to this initiative? >> first of all, i think it will increase the numbers republican significantly. and as you know, it's very important to send a bill to the house of representatives that has very strong bipartisan report -- support. i think that this legislation, this amendment, can achieve that. it calls for increased border security and i would remind you that back in 1986 we gave amnesty to 3 million people, we said we'd secure the border and we down. several year ago we passed other legislation that said we would increase border security. though border security has been increased, it's still not enough. we hope and believe that this

corker-hoven amendment will give people the confidence that we have a secure border. >> senator, as it turns out, you were ahead of your time on this. let's play a clip from an ad that you ran back in 2010 where you talked about that dang fence. let's play a clip of that and talk about it. >> have we got the right plan? >> plan's perfect. you bring troops, state, county and law enforcement together. >> and complete the dang fence. >> it will work this time. senator, you're one of us. >> i know you love seeing that again or hearing that one again. >> it's a great ad, isn't it? >> it is great ad. very effective as it turns out. that dang fence, is it going to get completed? who is going to pay for all of this? >> we'll be paying for it through fees and some fees i post on the visa system, but it

won't be any increase or taxes or add to the deficit. >> and let's get to syria. earlier this week as you know, senator, president obama sat down in that interview with charlie rose and he was asked about syria and he sort of threw cold water on this whole idea of a no-fly zone. let's take a listen. >> if you haven't been in the situation room poring through intelligence and meeting directly with our military folks and asking what are all our options and examining what are all the consequences and understanding that, for example, you set up a no-fly zone, that you may not be actually solving the problem on the ground. >> senator, it sounds like you're not getting i don't no-fly zone or even something close to it. does that mean that the rebels are doomed in syria? >> i don't believe the rebels are doomed, but i don't think there's any doubt that on the battlefield the advantage is clearly with bashar al assad. why wouldn't there be? tons of russian equipment coming

in, the iranian revolution riar guard, jihadists from all over the region, 5,000 hezbollah leaders and he's still calling it a civil war. it's turning into a regional conflict and the deciding factor is air power. and we have got to and can as the israeli have shown that they have been able to hit targets with missiles they want eliminated. >> would you like to sit down with the president and talk about this? >> i have already. >> what's your response when you make that case to him? >> he said he understands my points and he respects it, just as i respect his position but obviously he has not agreed. >> is it just that he's just anti-war to some extent? he came into the white house being the anti-war candidate. as you know, he was very much opposed to the iraq war. he said in germany that he's a president who is all about

ending war, not starting wars, made that comment. is he just philosophically opposed to ratcheting things up in syria do you think? >> no, i think he has believes that are genuine and sincere and they're obviously different from mine and most other experts. look, the middle east is about to erupt. this is turning into a regional conflict. lebanon is destabilized, jordan can't -- the king of jordan can't last. the conflict is spreading throughout the region. hezbollah is all in. this is becoming a shi'a sunni conflict, russia/u.s. it's an unfair fight. >> what about video of the rebel fighter, we've seen it on youtube, what appears to be a rebel fighter eating the heart of a syrian government military service member. why would we want to get involved in something like that? >> i think it's terrible.

i think it's horrible. and i think civil wars are probably the bloodiest and worst of all. the difference between that individual and that atrocious act is that that was an individual act by a deranged individual. bashar al assad has a strategy of rape, of torture and murder. there's mass graves that have been found all over syria. and so it's his people and hezbollah and others are trained to inflict torture and to indulge -- engage in mass rapes in order to cow the population and commit mass murder. we're talking about 93,000 people dead. the president said, well, now we know that chemical weapons have killed a a hundred people. what about the other 198,000 and whatever it is. if bashar al assad stays in

power and the iranian people are able to make that happen, imagine the position of power that iran has in the region. look what happens if bashar al assad fails. it's a blow to iran and they're cut off from hezbollah, which means hezbollah would die on the vine. that's why they're all in on this conflict. we're talking about giving them light weapons. light weapons do not do well against missiles and tanks. it's just shameful. >> senator mccain, we do know where you stand on this issue. we appreciate it very much. thank you. >> thanks for having me on. >> cnn fareed zakaria warns arming rebels could lead to a bigger disaster. >> and michael hastings suggesting the journalists death was not accident. but first, here's a look ahead

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we just heard senator john mccain make a passionate case for giving much stronger military support to syria's rebels. joining me to talk about that, fareed zakaria, host of "fareed zakaria gps." senator mccain calls this plan to provide only light arms to the rebels "shameful." what is your take on that? this is part and parcel of what

we've been hearing from john mccain for some time now, but he is really trying to box the president in it seems. >> i think senator mccain is wrong in one profound sense, i believe, which is he really wants the united states to get involved in what strikes me as one of the great civil wars of the middle east. this is going to be like the lebanese civil war, which took 15 years. remember the iraq one which we precipitated in some senses took ten years, 350,000 people were killed, 2.5 million people were displaced, even though we are 180,000 troops on the ground there. this seems very much like that. it is a minority regime as in lebanon, as in iraq that, is being displaced and there is a great fight between the majority and minority, a fight to death because they know the stakes are very high. for to us insert ourselves here, it just seems very unwise and very unlikely we could have much impact. he's right in one sense, the

small arms won't make much difference but the conclusion he draws is that we should jump in even more fully. and i think that's probably the wrong way to go and i doubt very much the president will go that direction. >> you not only take issue with john mccain, you really take issue with president obama and his policy on syria. you wrote a column in today's "washington post" titled "obama syria policy is full of contradictions." it says "there is a striking almost bizarre mismatch between ends and means. we want to defeat a ruthless and powerful regime, rescue a country from civil war and usher in a new democratic political order." nobody wants to put boots on the ground. that option is obviously not on the table. what do you think the president

can do here, if not sending small arms, what should they do? >> i think it's very dangerous to begin escalating down a road when you really are not committed to it. when you're saying from the outset this is not important for us to put boots on the ground. this is not important enough for -- >> even with nearly 100,000 casualties, the u.s. just sits that out? >> as i said, there were 300,000 civilian casualties in iraq while we were there. the idea that we can get in the middle of this civil war and figure out who the good guys are, who the bad guys are, stop the good guys from killing the bad guy, let me give you one simple possibility, jim, which is that we succeed in defeating assad. what is almost certainly going to happen, the historical facts are clear, the forces will turn on the minority group that assad represents, that's 14% of syria

and tens of hundreds of thousands of them will be massacred. so we will change the composition of who's killing whom but it's not entirely clear to me that's a net plus on a humanitarian basis. we have to recognize that unless we are willing to really get involved here and occupy the country or get -- engage in some kind of massive intervention, the chance that we can shape this -- the outcome of a very pushi murky and complex civil war is limited. the president also wants to kind have it both ways. so he's trying to do a little bit. in a sense the metaphor here is that he's trying to get a little bit pregnant. >> we know you'll be exploring this more fully on your show, "fareed zakaria gps." thank you. >> an article in "time" magazine caught our eyes. it's something that will help tens of thousands of u.s. soldiers coming home from war.

the article "how service can save us" is by joe klein, who joins us here in the situation room. joe, we were talking about putting boots on the ground in syria. not everyone wants to do this obviously. >> fareed is right by the way. >> the reason people are reluctant to do that is because of the high, heavy toll that has been paid in iraq and afghanistan and you lay out a lot of that in your article and what it is like for many of these soldiers. one veteran used to sleep with a gun under his pillow until he discovered this grounding opportunity for him to go in the service. >> the way i came to this is i embedded in iraq and afghanistan and i saw these kids, our remarkable troops governing towns. not just protecting them but using public works money to build schools and water and sewer facilities and so on. i thought if they can do it under fire over there, they can

come back home and be a generation that really effects news terms of public service. and these kid are doing it on their own. what they found is that public service, when you go out and you help other people, it makes it less likely to fakesit on yourself. and it really -- tell us a little bit about ian smith. that's who i was talking about, this young man who was sleeping with a gun under his pillow and how he was able to get out of that. >> well, you know, ian smith was an army intelligence analyst, and he came home, he was working three -- he wasn't the classic case. he was actually out there working. he was working three jobs, carrying a 4.0 in community college but he had to drink himself to sleep every night. and he needed that gun, he thought, for protection. and his good friend, who is part

of the encouraged ian to come to st. louis to come to work on the service project where they cleaned up a children's center in a poor neighborhood of st. louis. and all of a sudden ian found himself with a group of other veterans, it was the same point of reference for all of them. they were back to being a community again. >> and what you find is that going to some of these disasters around the country, like hurricane sandy and in oklahoma, some of these veterans are finding that these opportunities are sort of bringing them out of that darkness? >> right. a group called team rubicon does disaster relief all over the world. i spent memorial day weekend with them in oklahoma city. they were deployed there doing disaster relief. it was a great experience, not just for the people in oklahoma, whom they were helping out burke also for each other. at night they would get together and they would talk, not only about the day's work but about

the experience of combat and how they felt whole again being with other people that were like them. one veteran said to me "i've come home." >> wow. it's a powerful piece. we don't want the veterans from iraq to go down the same road at vietnam. >> a vietnam veteran said to me i wish we had this kind of thing. it saves lives. >> joe klein, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> coming up, was the fiery car crash that killed journalist michael hastings really an accident? conspiracy theories are starting to go viral. >> and game on as the spurs and heat decide the championship tonight. lebron james talks to rachel nichols. the heat is on. vo: traveling you definitely end up meeting a lot more people but

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michael hastings in a fiery crash early tuesday morning is raising questions because of his coverage of powerful figures in the u.s. military. cnn's casey wian reports. >> where is the driver? where's the driver. >> three years before this horrific car crash took his life, journalist michael hastings wrote an award winning controversial article about general stanley mcchrystal, quoting the u.s. commander making disrespectful remarks about vice president biden and other civilian leaders that ultimately ended the general's army career. hasting's pension for unvarnished criticism of military authorities clearly evident when he and piers morgan discussed mcchrystal's successor

david petraeus. >> i think there's many reasons he should have resigned despite who he's sleeping with. >> reporter: conspiracy theories are spreading online after this tweet from wikileaks, saying he contacted wikileak's lawyer general robbins just hours before he died. los angeles police are investigating the cause of the accident which happened right here early tuesday morning in this high-priced residential neighborhood. even at this makeshift memorial there are questions about hastings' death. this card reading, i pray your death was an accident and not purposely done by those who don't like you. a freelance photographer's dash cam captured images of the mercedes speeding through an intersection and minutes later what was sleft after it slammed into a palm tree. near the burning car, a beer bottle. further away the car's transmission which has fueled

speculation online that the vehicle could have exploded before impact. cnn's efforts to contact wikileaks' attorney have been unsuccessf unsuccessful. the fbi says at no time was hastings ever under investigation. los angeles police won't discuss their investigation. hasting's last article for the buzz feed was titled why democrats love to spy on americans. only to provide more fodder for those who believe something more sinister than excess speed was at fault for his death. >> even if it was just an accident, casey, a very trannic story to see a journalist so young lose his life. at the top of the hour, more on what's spooking investors and the fallout for your retirement account and a long haul flight without something essential in the restrooms. how did the passengers manage? hey.

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them out for it. >> all right. pretty essential. i would have to agree with you. this is pretty essential. we're talking about united airlines and a 5,4001 mile flight, and when you hear what they were short on -- by the way, they knew they were short, but they didn't want to delay the flight, so they took off anyway. united flight 931 from london to san francisco flying high but running low on what some would say is essential on a ten-hour flight, toilet paper. a passenger snapped this photo of the airline's quick fix. a makeshift toilet paper holder stuffed with cocktail napkins that read "fly by the tips of your fingers." >> airlines are crowding more and more seats, especially into the coach section of international flights, so they didn't increase the number of bathroomsment then you have so many bathrooms on these

international flights reserved only for premium passengers. so the poor coach passenger, maybe you'll have to start packing your own toilet paper. >> united confirms this was a bathroom in economy class. the airline tells cnnhe aircraft ran low on toilet tissue and our crew improvised and provided customers with paper napkins. we apologized to our customers on this flight for the inconvenience. united recently placed dead last in one annual report measuring airline performance. united says its merge with continue meantal was a krabting factor but insists their performance has improved. about their two-ply problem, the airline says finding more tissue would have delayed the flight. >> as a passenger, i would rather use cocktail napkins in the bathroom than have an hour or two delay. so i'm with united on this. >> all right, jim, so they wanted to stay on time with their departure, some might say

they care more about leaving than going. no comedian. the airline did point out that although some of the bathrooms ran out of tissue, there was some available in the other bathrooms on the flight, jim. >> add it to the long laundry list of problems that have happened on flights that just make passengers very, very frustrated. renee marsh, thank you. i'll turn things over to jake tapper for the next hour of "the situation room." happening now, wall street's worst day of the year. why fear is taking hold in the markets and shrinking your investments before your very eyes. plus a government contractor may have bungled the nsa leader's background check. stand by for an alarming look at security clearances gone wrong, some even faked. the unexpected death of the actor who brought tony soprano to life. new details on the passing of james gandolfini. wolf blitzer is off. i'm jake tapper.

welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. world. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the bell rang and hearts sank. it may not have been black thursday, but it was bad. the dow jones industrial average closed down more than 350 points. it was the worst one-day loss this year. it comes 24 hours after another nosedive t. dow has erased more than 500 points over the past two days. analysts suggest it's because the fed chairman raised fears that the central bank is planning to pull back its stimulus policies. felicia taylor coffers the market for cnn and diane swan is chief economist of mesirow international. why are investors this spooked? >> the conversation has begun. that's what has investors and

traders debating exactly when the stimulus will be pulled back. you have to keep in mind that we're talking about a pullback here. this is going to be a slow exiting of the marketplace. truly the marketplace has been propped up by this non-fundamental reason which is the stimulus from the federal reserve. the problem now is people are debating when it's going to happen. could it happen as soon as september? there's one headline that was very negative a bloomberg economic survey that say more and more economists think it could be september. they say they're looking at whether the economic data is there. it might happen at the end of the year or in 2014. the discussion has begun and that's what has most investors on when der hooks as to when it will happen. >> diane, should we be expecting a long-term trend here or do you think this is just a blip? >> it's puzzling. i think even ben bernanke said it was puzzling, the idea that the fed would taper. taper is not the same thing as an exit or an end or a

tightening of monetary policy. actually what they're doing is slowing down the pace at which they're giving us stimulus in the u.s. economy. it's like when the fed used to have an interest rate where they could go one percent and cut another half percent. this is a move like one percent to half percent cuts. the calibration of policy that is making it difficult for people to understand, i think it's like watching the sausage being made. too much information and too much uncertain stay. that said, this is a fed that's also given us an insurance policy. if the economy were to falter, they would increase again if they had to their purchases of large scale as purchase of treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities. >> diane, what do you make of these trends, gold prices going down and interest rates rising. what do you make of that? >> i think they go in contrast to what people would think. we do have inflation decelerating. the gold buy had been one where people were trying to protect themselves somehow by buying

gold like my grandmother did when she sewed it into her clothes coming to ellis island. this is an idea that inflation would pick up and the fed was printing money. the fed is still printing money, still stimulating the u.s. economy. people are realizing it's not happening with a lot of ontario nation against the backdrop of a very weak global economy. the interest rate back up, this is as if the market has decided the fed will raise rates tomorrow. what the fed said, they're willing to leave the punch bowl out there and not raise rates, most don't think until 2015. that might leave a few people tipsy at the end of the day. >> felicia, what's the mood on the floor? how are traders taking this all in? >> that's a very good question. the truth is there was no panic on the floor today. i talked to a lot of traders out there. actually one trader told me that for him every order he got today, it was a buy order. so there isn't a panic sell-off. this is just repricing risk into the marketplace. they know that this is coming. of course there's going to be a

little bit of a pullback on this. this isn't like this is a huge slide. it could have been a lot worse. >> diane swonk and felicia taylor, thank you so much. facebook stop was among the losers despite the unveiling of a new video sharing app similar to twitter's vine app which features six-second video sharing. yahoo! says its high pro feel purchase of pum bler is complete. they played $1.1 billion for the micro blogging service. the nsa leaking controversy has race questions about getting top secret clearance. we learned that the private firm that conducted snowden's background check is under criminal investigation. the allegations go far beyond any problems with snowden's vetting. cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence has been digging on this story. chris? >> jake, today's congressional hearing produced a stunning admission about this company,

usis based right here in virginia. a government watch dog told senator john tester this contractor may not have done a thorough investigation on edward snowden. >> are there any concerns that mr. snowden's investigation by usis may not have been carried out in an appropriate or thorough manner? >> yes, we do believe that there may be some problems. >> the company in question is now under criminal investigation for repeatedly failing to con tukt quality background checks. >> do you believe you're catching most of the fraud, mr. mcfarland, or do you believe there's more? >> i believe there may be considerably more. >> alarming when you consider at least 18 employees have been convicted of falsifying background checks. in one case a record searcher faked 1600 credit checks that she never even completed. even worse, this woman's own background check to get her job had been faked by another

investigator, someone convicted in a separate case. the inspector general calls it -- >> a clear threat to national security. >> the background investigation process is broken. >> former defense department official john hamry filled out a standard government form to renew his top secret clearance. what shocked him is the investigator spent hours asking the most basic questions. >> is your wife really julie? did you really go to school at augustana college? did you really live at this address? they simply read the form to me and i simply said it was true. >> he says with the personal information available online, a computer could do the same background check for $100. >> instead we're spending $4,000 to have people conduct rather -- conduct investigations that aren't revealing anything. >> one of the revelations at today's hearing is this is a billion dollar a year program

that's never been audited. hamry says about 90% of the work could be done by computers. with the savings you could send people out to do real digging and investigating and make some of these background checks a lot more thorough. jake. >> chris, thank you. we heard from senator claire mccaskill who will join us next to talk more about bungled background checks and her private chat with hillary clinton. up next, 400 families may have been exposed to tuberculosis after an outbreak at a single high school. dr. sanjay gupta is standing by. the final hours of actor james gandolfini. we're live in rome where the "sopranos" star died at the young age of 51. but to us, less isn't more. more is more. abundant space, available leading-edge technology, impeccable design, and more than you've come to expect

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more now on the possible problems with the nsa leaker's background check. senator claire mccaskill unveiled that the firm that

vetted snowden is under criminal investigation. senator, thanks for being here. first off, if these private contractors do such a bad job of vetting individuals as they apparently did with edward snowden, why should the american public feel comfortable that hcess to all this personal data about us? >> well, that's one of the things we tried to cover in the hearing today. i think many people in congress have not spent enough time oversight on this particular function of government, and that is security clearances. when are we requiring? how are we getting them? who is paying for it? and what kind of metrics are we using the make sure they're being successful? really this is a big black hole in terms of overnight and we're just beginning to scratch the surface on improvements that we're going to have to look at to make sure sys thim americans can trust. >> the guardian newspaper which has broken so many of these stories with documents provided

by edward snowden has some new documents out there about fisa, the secret foreign surveillance intelligence court. i don't expect you've had time to read them. "the guardian" says they're able to get access to inadvertent information and there allowed to keep it, according to the document itself, if these communications contain, quote, usable intelligence, information on criminal activity, threat of harm to people or property, the information is encrypted or they're believed to contain any information relevant to cyber security. the judgment of "the guardian" newspaper is that that sounds like it contradicts what we've heard from some many members of the obama administration including the president in terms of their not collecting calls and e mams from americans unless they get a warrant. are you at all concerned, if not with this specific aspect of it,

with any of these aspects we've heard about these surveillance programs? >> i think it's like the background checks, jake. we've got to be doing oversight. there's a rub here. to the extent that all ofhi becomes very transparent, some of it becomes very ineffective in getting the bad guys. so we've got to find the right balance. can we provide enough oversight and transparency to the american people that they're confident that no one i prying into their personal lives, that no one is invading them or violating their rights without a warrant and at the same time maintain a program that can effectively break up terrorist plots? that's what we're struggling with right now. i mean i think the guardian has an agenda. i respect the fact that "the guardian" is putting this information out there and it's been leaked. i get that's the role of journalism. at the same time there's been a lot of distortions around the facts of this information that's come to light and a an awful lot of context that's been missing

oovps. >> you said today in some way it is nsa is collecting less data than amazon and facebook. what did you mean by that? >> well, i think people need to realize what big data is doing in our lives. people don't realize the internet is free because we've allowed behavioral marketing on the internet. while amazon may not be reading your e-mail and figuring out who you're going to go play golf with or that you're skipping work to play golf. they don't care about any of that. they may find the word golf in an e-mail and target you for advertising about golf. that's what's going on in the internet right now. we've got to work on that, also. there's an awful lot of data that's being collected to market things to people in america and clearly we now know there's a lot of data being collected in order to try and stop a needle in a hay stack which is the kind of loan wolf terrorist plots out there right now. that's exactly what boston was.

>> senator mccaskill, before you go, i do want to ask you about some of the comments you made about secretary of state hillary clinton and how you are firmly behind her if chooses to run for president. she called you after you made that statement publicly. what can you tell us about that conversation? >> not a thing. >> then let me ask you this, why are you picking a horse already when there are a lot of democrats out there, let's say vice president biden, governor o'malley, governor cuomo, a whole bunch of individuals who might get support of a swing state senator like yourself. >> this is not complicated. hillary clinton is the strongest, the most qualified and an extraordinary candidate for president. if he decides to run. what i'm trying to do is encourage her to run. i think she would be the strongest nominee for our party and i think she would be an outstanding president. so it's just that simple. i believe in her.

i was for president obama last time. it was a difficult choice. they were two good leaders. i'm excited to be able to work on her behalf and hope to see her take her place at the desk in the oval office. >> senator claire mccaskill, thank you so much. coming up, will an autopsy shed light on the shocking death of actor james gandolfini? we'll get the lightest from rome. the daughter of a baseball legend made an amazing catch and saved a baby's life. stick around.

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unexpected death of actor james gandolfini. people all over the world are remember the "sopranos" star as a terrific actor and nice guy. he was only 51 years old. italian officials are moving forward with an autopsy. cnn international correspondent dan rivers joins us live from rome. dan, what do we know about the autopsy? >> reporter: well, we're beginning to piece together the final hours of actor james gandolfini. he was staying at this five-star hotel in central rome. last night the ambulances and emergency doctors were called after he collapsed from a suspected heart attack sometime after 10:00. they attempted cpr here at the hotel and then in the ambulance as they rushed him to hospital. but by the time he arrived at hospital at 10:40 thursday night, he was pronounced dead. sadly now we are waiting for the results of an autopsy. they're obliged to carry out an

autopsy in cases like this. there's no suspicion at the moment that this is anything other than the natural causes. but we have now also confirmed that he was traveling with his 13-year-old son and his sister. they were here for a film festival in sicily. >> so sad. what's been the reaction in italy to gandolfini's death? i know his father was from there, his mother grew up there. he, himself, spent time there as a child. how are italians taking the death of this american? >> reporter: there's obviously a huge amount of upset among the people that follow the "sopranos." i think it's fair to say the "sopranos" is not the type of blockbuster series that it is in the u.s. and the u.k. nonetheless, it has a cult following here and some people do well know the series here. the film festival in sicily that he was due to speak at has put out a statement saying how sorry

they are. they're saying the whole festival will be dedicated to his memory, equally the u.s. embassy put out a similar statement talking about the great sadness on learning the news of his untimely death. he was only 51 years old. >> thank you so much. still ahead a new tb outbreak among students. could it spread? dr. sanjay gupta will put it in perspective for us. the pentagon verses secretary of state john kerry. his bold plan that got shot down. find out why wolf is front and center in an italian newspaper. i'm an accountant. a mechanical engineer. and i shop at walmart. truth is, over sixty percent of america shops at walmart every month. i find what i need, at a great price. and the money i save goes to important things. braces for my daughter. a little something for my son's college fund. when people look at me, i hope they see someone building a better life.

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daughter of a sports legend came to the rescue. she's showing cnn exactly how it happened. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm jake tapper. you are in "the situation room." a tuberculosis scare is unfolding at a high school in fairfax county, virginia. three cases of tb are confirmed and hundreds of students and staff may have been exposed. >> the three patients were in the active phase. when they were presented for care they were ill with tb infection. they had tb pneumonia and were sick, coughing and ill and through a variety of diagnostic ways were then identified as having an active tb infection. cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins us with more. how common is tb.

>> not that common. something we hear more about in developing countries. but there's still some 10,000 or so cases roughly a year that do occur. we often hear about them when there's some sort of scare like this or cl's a cluster of cases. i should point out, jake, to your question, the number of cases overall has gone down over the last couple of years as well. but the concern here as you can guess is this is a very contagious disease, a bacterial disease that can potentially spread from person to person and can cause significant lung problems and you have to screen people who may have been exposed. so, for example, in a suburb not too far from where i am now in atlanta, they had to screen some 100 people not that long ago because of a possible exposure to someone who had active tb. there's active tb and what is known as latent tb which is somebody who had been exposed in the past, had the disease in the past and was not currently contagious. you have to separate who has

active disease and who has evidence of disease but is not contagious. >> what should people listening at home do to make sure they don't get it? is there immunization for it? >> there's no particular -- there's different treatments for it if someone gets exposed. the main thing is, if someone -- if you worry that you had been exposed somehow or fall into a category of people who was around somebody who potentially they know had an exposure, actually has active disease, definitely see your doctor. you get tested and find out if you have the bacterial infection as well. you don't want to treat this, what we call empirically, meaning without evidence of disease. if you have it, after a known exposure, obviously get treatment and try and get it early. switching gears to another medical story making news, sanjay, we're hearing about a possible medical break through, this time for treatment in people with leukemia, a blood cancer. what can you tell us about this drug? >> people know the term

leukemia. there are several different kinds of leukemia. we're talking about chronic lymph sittic leukemia. it's tough to treat. typically occurs in elderly people. they can get chemotherapy but it has significant side effects. if you look at survival rates, even with treatment it's about 5% to 10% at around two years. this is a new medication that first of all is a bill, not a chemotherapy injection. it has seemingly very few side effects. we're talking about early clinical trials here. here is the most staggering point, at 24 months, the survival rate appears to be about 83%. those stats, lower side effect medication, exponentially higher survival rates, this is why now it is being fast-tracked. they say we've got our data, we want to fast-track it and make it available to as many people as possible 679 it's a whole new class of cancer drug, jake. we don't have drugs that work

quite the way this one does in a very targeted way. so i'll tell you, within the cancer community and the medical community as a whole there's a lot of enthusiasm about this. >> dr. sanjay gupta, thank you so much. former yankee manager joe torre has seen a lot of catches but none like the one his dater made. she caught and saved a baby who fell more than two stories from a building. alina cho spoke to christina torre. is she stunned by this? >> she most likely is. she's the unlikeliest of celebrities. unlike her father, christina torre is not at all used to being in the limelight. she says she's the quiet one in the family. she's going to have to get used to it. it's part of what comes with being a hometown hero. >> god bless you. >> reporter: this is how much christina torre's life has

changed in just 24 hours. the daughter of legendary yankees manager joe torre made the catch of her life when a baby who literally fell out of the sky landed right in her arms. >> show me what you did. >> to see what the situation was, i came over here. i saw the baby kind of straddling the pole, the railing up there. he was holding on, and i started talking to him as i'm talking to 911 and saying please stay up there. >> reporter: the baby, just a year old, was dangling precariously from the fire escape more than two stories up after pushing aside a piece of cardboard covering a hole in the window. >> you're talking to the baby. >> yeah. >> and you're positioning yourself. >> i'm positioning myself. i'm a teacher. intuitively i just do what needs to be done. >> reporter: it's a good thing. in a matter of minutes the baby fell and torre was there to catch him. >> he did land right in my arms.

>> how did he -- >> it was light as a father actually. >> on his back? >> on his back. i was cradling him on his back. he was crying. >> reporter: with a cut on his mouth but safe and now out of the hospital. the baby's parents who were said to be sleeping at the time are charged with four counts each of reckless en dangerment. so what does the daughter of a baseball legend have to say about making such an amazing play? her dad says -- >> she's always had great hands. >> i do think i got the hand-eye coordination from my dad. >> shop owners here are calling it the miracle on the corner. >> well, i'm just glad i was in the right place at the right time and could help. >> and she's not sporty at all, jake. we spent a good part of the afternoon with christina torre in bay ridge, brooklyn. time after time we saw perfect strangers coming up to her hugging, kissing her saying god

bless you, thank you for save that baby. as for the parents, we should tell you they were arraigned today and released until the next court hearing. the baby we are happy to report is out of the hospital and in protective custody along with his three siblings. >> just an unbelievable story. >> you can't make it up. >> there was an episode of "curb your enthusiasm" where bill buckner caught a baby. i never thought anything like that would actually happen. >> no. she said it was a teacher and it was her instinct to save the child and it just happened. >> thank god for her. let's take a quick look at some of the other stories in the "the situation room" with mary snow. a jury of six women will decide the fate of george zimmerman, the florida neighborhood watch guard accused in second degree murder in last year's shooting death of trayvon martin. five of the jury prors are white, one is hispanic and black. opening statements will be on monday. tonight is game seven of the nba finals between the miami

heat and san antonio spurs. everyone is wondering who will show up, the hot heat or the one that fizzles, to a great extent, that depends on one player. cnn's rachel nichols spoke with him. take a listen. >> with about a minute to go in game x, security guards come out, they start putting that yellow tape around the floor, get ready to wheel that trophy in and give it to the spurs. >> we felt like they was burying us alive, throwing dirt on us before it was over. at the end of the day there's still more game to play. let's finish this game and see what happens. >> we have to talk about the head band, of course. i have one here for you. i don't know if you recognize this. this is your old friend. you usually keep this guy next to you at all times you wear him. >> he's a little mad at me right now. haven't talked to him in a few hours. i haven't not played with it in so long. >> dwyane wade said i'm going to try to see if i'm going to talk him into not wearing it in game

seven. can you give me the exclusive here? >> i don't know. i don't know. it's a tough decision. i have to decide whether i'm going to wear it or not wear it. i think i will. he's been a part of this journey, the ups and downs of my career so far. >> no man left behind. >> no man left behind. >> how much of a game seven is about x's and o's and how much is about heart? >> i think it's all heart. at the end of the day, x's and o's, coach also put you in position to succeed. you've got to go out and do it. i think it's about heart and determination at this point. >> and to reunite you with your friend. >> yeah, sorry buddy. still love you. >> we'll be watching. and our very own wolf blitzer is being honored with the avino press award which italy gives to a distinguished american journalist.

hundreds were on hand. past recipients include david ignatius and pulitzer prize winner thomas friedman. he gave a speech. this is an award well deserved. congratulations, wolf. jake, i wish we were there for that. >> i want to play the whole speech. maybe we can play the whole speech. we'll do that later in the broadcast maybe. >> that's coming up. >> mary, thank you so much. coming up, secretary of state john kerry floats an idea for syria and has it shot down by a top pentagon general. voices reportedly raised at a white house meeting. we'll get all the details next. what makes the sleep number store different?

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the obama administration is moving forward with its new plan to provide military help to the syrian rebels. the president is not yet offering any specifics. there apparently has been heated debate within the administration about how to respond to chemical weapons used by the syrian regime. that put the pentagon and secretary of state john kerry at odds. we're joined by jeffrey goldberg, national correspondent for "the atlantic." john kerry suggested air strikes and the pentagon is dead set against it. take us into that meeting. >> last wednesday, the principals, secretary of defense, chief of joint chiefs, secretary of state got together to talk about what is the american response going to be to the confirmation that assad used chemical weapons on his own people. there are many options, a no-fly zone on the table, air strikes

against air bases on the table, obviously supporting the rebels with small arms. john kerry is adamant, sort of the leading hawk now in the administration for more action and he proposed in this meeting that the administration consider air strikes on these syrian air bases from which these planes are being launched. general martin dempsy, the chairman of the joint chiefs, was fairly adamant in this meeting that, no, the pentagon does not support this idea. he is the chief military adviser to the president. he happens to know that the president is very hesitant, as we know, about getting further involvement here. he said absolutely no way. this is not a small thing you're suggesting. it would require hundreds of sore difficults just to suppress the air defense systems before you could even start bombing. the big question that has very much to do with our recent history in iraq and afghanistan, the big question is, okay, you an entrance strategy, you know how to start the war, but where is this thing going to go?

how are we going to get out of this? the president himself has talked about the dangers of the slippery slope. >> it surprises me that kerry would be a leading hawk in the administration just because in general, although he did vote for the war in iraq and the war in afghanistan, generally he is one that talks about diplomacy before military -- >> this is what's so interesting about this, he sees military strikes as an aid to diplomacy. in other words, he wants to get all of the parties to the table in geneva. they want to have this peace conference. he knows that the assad regime is winning on the battlefield. the assad regime has no reason to go to peace talks when it feels as if it's winning. in other words, in order to give the assad regime the incentive to go to peace talks, the rebels have to do better than they're doing. that's what the small arms is about in some way. of course, kerry and other people in the administration believe that another way to help

the rebel cause is to use some air strikes against assad military targets. he sees this as ansaid to diplomacy. >> quickly, jeffrey, where do you think the conversation goes from here? >> that's the $64,000 question. the ultimate truth of the moment is that the president himself, who makes the final decision obviously, is extremely hesitant to even go down the slope of providing small arms to the rebels. so i don't foresee in the near term, barring an enormous chemical weapons attack or some other catastrophe that we can't yet envision, i don't see us moving toward air strikes very quickly. i certainly don't see us moving toward a no-fly zone. >> all right, jeffrey goldberg from bloomberg view and "the atlantic." >> thank you. coming up, believed to be a miracle. pope john paul ii is another step closer to sainthood. [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases.

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he was one of the most popular popes in modern history. now there's word coming out of the vatican that john paul ii is one critical step closer to sainthood. cnn's brian todd is here with details. >> we know this is likely going to happen soon. pope john paul ii had a knack for capturing the world's attention, the first rock star in the papacy. it's no surprise he's fast-tracked for sainthood. at his funeral thousands chanted "sainthood now," john paul ii, maybe the most popular post in

the catholic church. it's eight years later and as close to sainthood as you can get. >> for an institution that typically thinks in terms of centuries, this is very quick. >> john allen says according to vatican insiders who spoke unofficially, a second miracle has been performed by john paul posthumously. >> they're saying there's a report of a miraculous healing of a woman in costa rica. >> according to reports, the woman recovered from a severe brain injury. church protocol says it takes two miracles performed after death to make someone a saint. his first, curing a nun who reportedly had parkinson's. if a second miracle happens. >> and a team of doctors examine the miracle and the theologians look at the miracles and discuss amongst themselves the legitimacy and all the facts surrounding the miracles. >> john allen says that's

already happened. then a body of cardinals has to approve sainthood. finally the pope signs off on it. the record for the fastest canonization in modern times, jose maria escriva, made a saint 27 years after his death. john paul could shatter that. >> there are critic whose say not so fast on canonization. they say despite being so be loved, he didn't live up to expectation at a crucial moment in the church's history, a moment of shame that the church is still dealing with. >> the rath against john paul in terms of the sex abuse scandals is that this stuff metastasized during his papacy and he didn't respond adequately to it. >> i put it to the char ch bishop of washington, colonel donald world. >> his ministry was

now when you're presiding over a worldwide church with over a billion members, surely there will be things that happen you don't have a lot of control or maybe no control. >> reporter: the measure of a saint is not the list of accomplishments versus setbacks but how holy the person was. john allen says at this point it is very likely that pope francis will aproven the st. hood of john paul ii. >> what do we know about the time able? >> reporter: it could come as late as next year. either way he obliterates the record are for fastest cannonization. he's that popular and this is going to happen. >> a beloved figure. also at the vatican the thrill of a lifetime for a 17-year-old with down's syndrome. he and his father were smoking with pope francis when the pontiff invited him to sit in the pope mobile. the young man was all smiles as he took a seat and was swung

around by the pope himself who let the teen spend a while onboard. there is angry reaction to the apology of a group that claimed it could help gay christians become straight. the stunning end to the 37 year mission that failed. >> reporter: it billed itself as the largest evangelical ministry for what it called freedom from homosexuality through christ. now it's closing its doors. for decades they endorsed the controversial convergent therapy or the idea that homosexuality is something that can be cured. now they say it's psychologically harmful in a special on oprah winfrey's network tonight. >> no matter how many times i pled with god to take this away from me, i couldn't do it on my own. >> you are responsible. >> the organization needs to shut down. shut down.

don't tweak it. don't try to improve it. shut it down. >> the shift by exodus comes as a surprise to many as recently as 2007 allen chambers, the organization's president, seemed to support the therapy. >> for someone to think that going from gay to straight is like flipping a light switch, that's something we want to correct at every turn. >> today's apology on oprah's network coincides with the ministry's annual conference and was in advance of the ministry's appearance on oprah's own network where it will apologize to some of its members for undue judgment. at one time the ministry's president announced he was gay. now with a wife and children, chambers in a statement addresses the irony and offers an apology. it is strange to be someone who has both been hurt by the church's treatment of the lbgt community and to be someone who must apologize for being part of the very system of ignorance that perpetuated that hurt, he said. exodus said the decision was to appeal to a new generation of

christians who want change. the former direct aror of an exodus ministry believes chambers is pandering to the change in church culture. >> i think it's not only confusing, i think it's wrong in light of the origins of exodus and what its original mission was, and so he's basically taking exodus in a whole other direction and in light of his own vision of what it now is supposed to be. >> exodus international may be closing its doors but they say they plan on opening a new ministry called reduced fear and it will aim at being more welcoming. jake? >> nick valencia, thank you. jeanne moos takes us to some of tony soprano's old stomping grounds to show us how folks are paying tribute to the actor who played him. [ male announcer ] erica had a rough day.

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♪ tony soprano was not the only kashg it ter that actor gus gandarillas played but in new york and new jersey today people are saying good-bye to both of them. here is cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: since his passing,

tony so rprano has a table reserved where he was last seen eating onion rings as the "sopranos" series went forever to black. ♪ don't stop >> reporter: now reporters are sitting at the reserved table. >> for now it's shut down. >> reporter: reporting on something much more final than a finale. >> don't worry. i'm going to hell when i die. >> reporter: how could a character with so much anger be so beloved? a son who abused his mother when she just had a stroke. >> have a nice, long, happy life which is more than i can say for you. >> reporter: a guy who got so annoyed at his table mate he even abused the ketchup. a character who got into our heads while having his examined. >> when is the last time you had a prostate exam? >> i don't even let anyone wag their finger in my face. >> reporter: and in real life?

>> have you ever had any personal experience with psycho and al sis? >> i don't think when i started the series i did. >> reporter: in the new york tabloids it was tony who died. james gandolfibegajames gandolf billing. all he had to do was act like tony and tina fey interrupted him on "saturday night live." >> i'm sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt you. >> use your head. >>s that is the scariest man i have ever been attracted to. >> reporter: the real man was said to be sweet rather than sour. >> what is your favorite word? >> pickle. >> reporter: cartoonist mark murphy wrote this epitaph. here lies tony soprano, murderer, thief, extortionist, drug abuser, liar, arsonist. he was loved and will be missed. i've been missing the "sopra

"sopranos'" show open. through the lincoln tunnel to new jersey, things have changed. tony would definitely have switched from toll tickets to ez-pass. the twin towers are long gone. now so is a towering act. jeanne moos, cnn. new york. >> james gandolfini's co-star said this about her onscreen marriage, the love between tony and carmella was one of the greatest i've ever known. you can follow what's going on in "the situation room" on twitter. just tweet the show. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. ♪ born and raise d in south detroit ♪ >> what looks good tonight? >> i don't know. ♪ took the midnight train going anywhere ♪

>> he just called. he's on his way. she is coming separately. she had to go to the doctor to switch birth control. the dow has its worst day of the year plummeting 350 points. and then the taliban offering to release the only known american prisoner of war in exchange for five gitmo detainees. will president obama make a deal and negotiate with terrorists? it appears "the sopranos" star james gandolfini died of a heart attack. how many of us are at risk right now that don't know it? let's go "outfront."